This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-340910, filed Nov. 8, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna and an electronic device containing the antenna, and more particularly, to an antenna module using a chip antenna and an electronic device such as a personal computer containing the antenna module within a housing of a display unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a notebook type personal computer containing an antenna has become commercially practical to realize a wireless communication function. An example thereof is U.S. Pat. No. 5,677,698 (Snowdon) which employs, as an antenna, a slot antenna comprising a copper foil having a rectangular slot formed therein. The antenna is mounted behind a display on an inner surface of a lid of a notebook type personal computer through an adhesive coating on the rear surface of the antenna. Since a housing of the notebook type personal computer is made of a dielectric material, the effective length of the antenna is advantageously increased and the slot is correspondingly reduced in length. Thus, the antenna is compact in size. For use in an office or the like where a number of reflected waves or interference waves are assumed, two antennas are mounted perpendicularly and close to each other to realize an antenna of a diversity system.
Since the antenna is mounted behind the display, it produces more radiation on the back side of the display while it produces less radiation on the display surface side. In other words, the directivity is high on the back side and low on the display surface side. When the antenna is applied to a wireless LAN or the like, it is desirable for the antenna to have a non-directional radiation characteristic to allow communication regardless of the orientation of the personal computer.
The lid where the antenna is placed has little space for mounting, and the mounting of the antenna causes an increased thickness of the lid, although a reduction in thickness is required for the lid. In addition, a display panel is made of metal and the antenna is desirably spaced from the panel to some extent, which restricts free design of the shape of the end portion of the lid housing (such as a rounded form or the like).
In recent years, a number of industry organizations have developed and published a plurality of wireless communication schemes for wireless local area networks xe2x80x9cLANsxe2x80x9d, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (xe2x80x9cIEEExe2x80x9d) 802.11a and 802.11b standards. In addition, a number of industry consortiums also developed and published wireless communication schemes for short-distance wireless communication, such as the xe2x80x9cBluetoothxe2x80x9d standard. These communication schemes set forth the technical specifications governing the wireless exchange of information between electronic devices. Most of these wireless communication schemes exhibit a need for mounting a number of antennas to accommodate them. In this case, a plurality of antennas are mounted on a small area, and depending on positional relationships between the antennas, interference may occur between them or the diversity effect may be reduced.
In this manner, an antenna contained in a conventional electronic device has the disadvantage of a radiation characteristic directed to a particular direction depending on the mounting location to fail to realize a non-directional radiation characteristic. In addition, the antenna contained in the device causes the disadvantages of an increased thickness of the housing and a reduced degree of freedom in the design of the shape of the housing. Furthermore, when a plurality of antennas are mounted to accommodate a plurality of wireless communication schemes, such problems occurs as interference between the antennas, a reduced effect of the diversity system, and the like.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an antenna suitably contained in a small and thin electronic device, for example in a display unit of a portable electronic device.
An antenna according to an aspect of the present invention comprises a substrate and an antenna mounted on the substrate, wherein a portion of the substrate having the antenna thereon can be bent with respect to the remaining portion.
With such a structure, when the antenna is mounted in a housing of an electronic device, the antenna can be spaced from a metal material without extending space for the mounting, and restrictions can be prevented on the housing structure or the outer design.